Donnie Patten (from December 2005)

From rebellious teenager to theology professor, Donald (Donnie) Patten has traveled a long way. Raised in a godly family in Waterloo, IA, Donnie made a profession of faith at age 9, but that’s all it was. His high school years were rough, he says. “I pretty much lived a double life – at church on Sunday, and out partying the rest of the week.” So how did someone whose only goal was to “live it up” in a worldly sense, end up at Emmaus as a student in 1986? After high school he planned to attend Iowa State, but because of his wild ways, his father gave him an ultimatum: stay home or attend Emmaus. Donnie chose Emmaus. He came to genuine faith in Christ in Dave Glock’s Life of Christ class; and the road he was traveling on took a dramatic turn.

Following Emmaus, Donnie moved to St. Louis, MO and began a teaching career at Victory Christian School, eventually becoming administrator. He married his wife, Sherri, in 1991 and they have two children, Leah, 7, and Jonah, 1. Donnie knew God had gifted him in teaching, and after teaching a number of different age levels, he decided that his niche was teaching at the college level.

Donnie has never shied away from challenges, in fact, he relishes them. His experiences in teaching made him aware of the need to be able to reach people from a broad spectrum of backgrounds, theologically and philosophically. With that in mind he pursued his M.Div in Theology at Covenant Theological Seminary, and his Ph.D. in Historical Theology from Saint Louis University. Wasn’t he concerned about studying at institutions with such radically different doctrinal viewpoints from his own?  “No, not at all. I knew I had a very firm biblical and doctrinal foundation from my studies at Emmaus and I was rock solid in my own beliefs,” Donnie says. His educational credentials have opened doors for him to venues that otherwise might have remained closed.

He has taught at Saint Louis University, Fontbonne University, and Missouri Baptist University. While he was at Saint Louis University, Donnie helped develop and implement the use of web-based instructional tools.

His educational background and computer expertise made Donnie a perfect choice to head up the Distance Education department at Emmaus. Donnie and his family moved to Dubuque in June 2005. His days are now filled with adapting semester-long, “brick and mortar” courses into a format suitable for 10-week online computer courses. (It’s not as easy as it sounds!) In addition, he interacts both with the online students and the faculty members who are teaching the courses. He fills in in the classroom when EBC faculty need to be away from campus. Donnie also has an itinerant preaching ministry on weekends.

Donnie is not just a computer geek or theological scholar. He also likes to have fun and he’s pretty good at it too! He loves to travel to new places, ski, fish, play racquetball, and Rook (a perennial EBC favorite) and spend time with his family.